er Chad Lundgren, former editor of ASFacts, reports. “According to Vincent's landlord (and friend) Frank, Vin- cent felt anxious and called 911 late Saturday, November 7. He collapsed and had to be put on a gurney. “While on the gurney, Frank assured him he would lock up his apartment, and Vincent asked him to shut a window too – which if you know Vincent, is very like him,” continued Chad. “He'd want the apartment to be securely locked. That may be the last thing he ever said, as the hospital said he did not have a pulse for around an hour, until he was put on life support.” The World Fantasy Awards winners for works pub- According to doctors at the hospital, a blood clot lished in 2019 were announced during the virtual World lodged in Vincent’s lungs, preventing his heart from beat- Fantasy 2020 (WFC) convention, held October 29- ing. Vincent never regained consciousness. All tests November 1, reported Locusmag.com. showed no sign of brain activity, and he was legally de- The Life Achievement Awards, presented annually to clared dead on November 9. Per Vincent’s wishes, one of individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to his kidneys was donated. the fantasy field, went to Karen Joy Fowler and Rowena Vincent was a staunch atheist who “treated everyone Morrill. fairly,” said Chad. “He had high-functioning autism and a The World Fantasy Awards winners are: job he enjoyed, working in IT at LifeROOTS – an organi- BEST NOVEL: Queen of the Conquered by Kacen zation that helps people with disabilities.” Callender, BEST NOVELLA: Silver in the Wood by Emily Born June 9, 1971, Vincent enjoyed science fiction, Tesh, BEST SHORT FICTION: “Read After Burning” by computers and computer games. At ASFS meetings, Maria Dahvana Headley, BEST ANTHOLOGY: New Suns: which may be the only in-person group to which he be- Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color edited by longed, he often sat against the back wall with his bicycle. Nisi Shawl, BEST COLLECTION: Song for the Unraveling In virtual meetings this summer and fall, Vincent often of the World by Brian Evenson, BEST ARTIST: Kathleen forwarded links to websites that related to that month’s Jennings, SPECIAL AWARD – PROFESSIONAL: Ebony Eliz- topic or talk, and offered technical advice to those having abeth Thomas, for The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Im- issues with Zoom. agination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games, and Another thing Chad remembers about Vincent was SPECIAL AWARD – NON-PROFESSIONAL: Bodhisattva his “near eidetic memory for places. I mentioned going to Chattopadhyay, Laura E. Goodin & Esko Suoranta, for a fellow fan's house for a movie screening and when he Fafnir: Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research. This year’s judges were Gwenda Bond, Galen Dara, • December 11: Virtual Holiday Show & Tell of PAN- Michael Kelly, Victor LaValle, and Adam Roberts. For demic foods, treasured decorations, and holiday out- more information, see the WFC website. fits. Plus socializing and some film shorts. • January 8, 2021: Virtual Group Book Discussion! ASFS MEMBER LUNDGREN DIES What did you read in 2020 & would recommend? • February 12: Unknown program at virtual meet- Vincent Lundgren, longtime member of the Albu- ing. Plus ASFacts (Deadline Monday, Feb 8). querque Science Fiction Society and Bubonicon attendee, • March 12: Unknown, probably virtual. Possibly a died on November 9 after a blood clot entered his lungs. guest presentation. He was 49 years old. • April 9: Probably still virtual. Maybe a movie? His death was unexpected since he biked everywhere For sure, the Spring ASFacts (deadline Mon, April 5). and seemed in better shape than most of his family, broth- • May 14: Again, unknown. Maybe in-person? Club Officers: Jessica Coyle & Craig Chrissinger, co-Zec Secs (505) 266-8905. Harriet Engle, Moderator. Grant Kuck, alternator. Kris Kringle & Rudolph the Reindeer, Holiday Hosts. Bubonicon 52: Take Two Chair: Craig W. Chrissinger. heard the address, he said, ‘Oh yeah, that's an odd block, there is a police officer three doors down, and around the SF BOOK GROUP READS ON corner there's a couple that both work for the Sheriff's The Droids & Dragons SF Book Group meets 7:30 office.’ When I went there, he was right.” pm Monday, December 21, virtually in a Zoom chat ses- He also enjoyed hiking, often in the Sandia Moun- sion to discuss Trail of Lightning: The Sixth World Book tains. Since Vincent found cremation “logical,” his ashes 1 by New Mexico’s Rebecca Roanhorse. The group then will be scattered in the mountains once the COVID-19 meets virtually January 18, 2021, to talk about The Sky Is situation is better. Chad notes that with the worsening Yours by Chandler Klang Smith. numbers of cases, the family decided to postpone the cer- Meetings of the D&D Book Group are open to all emony. “Certainly, if Vincent were alive, he would ques- readers on the 3rd Monday of each month. Books for dis- tion traveling at this time,” said Chad. “According to cussion are chosen two months in advance, and group Frank, he lectured people on the bus without masks, members receive a 20% discount on them at Page One which I find easy to believe.” Books. For more info: Leah at [email protected] Vincent was an advocate of the International Dark- or Craig at 266-8905. Sky Association, “even paying for a light shade for his apartment porch light out of his own pocket,” said Chad. In lieu of flowers, the family is instead suggesting people GOODREADS NAMES BEST OF 2020 make a donation at https://darksky.salsalabs.org/ th tribute_pmt_form/index.html. Winners of the 12 annual Goodreads Choice Vincent is survived by father Steven; siblings Chad Awards for the “best books of 2020,” as chosen by users (and sister-in-law Karen), Nate, Isaac, Jeff, and Beverly of the site, were announced December 8. These are the (with brother-in-law Derek); as well as nieces Matilda, only major book awards decided by readers. There are Joy and Bet, and nephew William. several categories of genre interest: FICTION: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (a wild- ly inventive blend of literary and speculative fiction in which each book in a library represents a different path your life could have taken.), The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America FANTASY: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. (SFWA) has named Nalo Hopkinson the 37th recipient of Maas (an introduction to her new Crescent City series, in the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, re- which complex heroine Bryce Quinlan and fallen angel ported Locusmag.com at the beginning of December. Hunt Athalar track a lethal demon) [Black Sun by NM’s SFWA president Mary Robinette Kowal said, “I have Rebecca Roanhorse also was nominated.], loved Nalo Hopkinson’s work since 1999 when I discov- SCIENCE FICTION: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by ered her through the short story “Precious” in a Datlow/ Christopher Paolini (a sustained gaze into the future of Windling anthology Silver Birch, Blood Moon. Each new humankind in which scientist Kira Navárez is scouting an piece continues to delight me and stretch me as a reader as-yet-uncolonized planet and discovers an alien relic that and makes me bolder as a writer. will change the fate of Earth and its colonies), “Naming Nalo as Grand Master recognizes not only HORROR: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (a her phenomenal writing but also her work as an educator pitch-perfect Gothic horror story in the old-school mode, who has shaped so many of the rising stars of modern but with contemporary perspectives on race and colonial- SFF,” Kowal continued. ism), Hopkinson, born in December 1960, is a Jamaican- HUMOR: Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle (featuring born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Since blue aliens who think and act just like us humans, but 2013, she has lived and taught in Riverside, CA. Her nov- with a hilarious kind of specificity), els (Brown Girl in the Ring, Midnight Robber, The Salt SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: A Life on Our Planet: My Roads, The New Moon's Arms) and short stories such as Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by David those in her collection Skin Folk often draw on Caribbean Attenborough (part testimony, part memoir, and part ur- history and language, and its gent call to arms), traditions of oral and written GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS: Heartstopper: Volume storytelling. Three by Alice Oseman (continuing love story of Charlie The Grand Master Award, and Nick, now open & out, and ready to meet the world), given for “lifetime achievement YOUNG ADULT FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION: The in science fiction and/or fanta- Queen of Nothing by Holly Black (final installment in sy,” will be presented at the vir- Black’s wildly popular series reveals the ultimate fate of tual SFWA Nebula Conference Jude, exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, and a girl with ex- to be held June 4-6, 2021. For tremely interesting problems), more, see the SFWA website. Page 2 SITHFACTS, December 2020 MIDDLE GRADE & CHILDREN’S: The Tower of Nero: Bova’s best-known works involved plausible sciences The Trials of Apollo Book 5 by Rick Riordan (the final about humanity’s expansion into the universe, looking at adventure of the Greek god Apollo, incarnated on Earth as how we might adapt to live in space with novels such as hapless teenager Lester Papadopoulos), 1992’s Mars, about the first human expedition to the red PICTURE BOOKS: Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi planet.